Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)

[Dirtbag59]

Originally Posted by That Guy

when computers used cassette to store data, games were pirated over radiowaves. you can't stop piracy... you can push it to anonymous proxied and fully encrypted networks running 3rd party dns, but you don't want to do that. Cause then you loose your ear to what's really happening, and people with aims far worse than downloading an mp3 can ride the new wave of the 2nd internet everyone is invisible. SOPA let's terrorists win :P

That's the funniest thing about this whole bill. It does everything but stop piracy. Heck it barely puts a dent in it. All the while screwing up everything else to appease Hollywood and the dying record industry. Stupid Hollywood. First they force us to sit through terrible movies now they want to mess up the internet.

Originally Posted by That Guy

for games its less clear, but plenty of studies show that the biggest music pirates spend the most money on music, people that pirate software wouldn't use it/buy it wasn't free, and piracy of TV, music, and books tends to lead to increased sales. I think games are the only place where companies really lose out, and that's why most PC games now are designed for consoles (ie xbox) in mind, cause the PC profit margin on non java/flash/mmos just isn't there (part of that is due to DRASTICALLY increased budget requirements on a tier 1 title though).

PC games are less popular for developers because of their impracticality. Granted piracy reduces the appeal but it's such an unstable market. Someone buys a gaming machine it becomes obsolete in 2 or 3 years if they're lucky. Meanwhile PS3 and 360 will have had a lifespan of around 10 years when it's all said and done. Developers get more time to familiarize themselves with the platform and when they finish the product they have a good idea as to what to expect when it comes to sales.

The more ambitious titles like Crysis and Battlefield I believe are basically R&D for the next generation of consoles all the while getting a chance to produce sales. Theres also stuff like WOW but those are more niche markets that have excellent revenue models.